Women train to weave marae mats

Press, 27 September 1983, Page 8

Women train to weave marae mats

Mrs Katirda Tuhakaraina (left), a tutor from the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua, assists Miss Susan Korako, of Christchurch, in weaving a tuwhara (small mat) at the Nga Hau E Wha national marae in Pages Road yesterday. Mrs Tuhakaraina is one of three women from the institute who are in Christchurch to conduct a weeklong course in mat weaving

at the marae. During the last two days about 10 women have been "learning the basics” on the tuwhara, and by the end of the week expect to be applying their new-found skills on the larger whariki. As well as aiming to make the women more proficient in Maori crafts, the course is a training exercise to prepare them for the task of weaving 350 whariki, each about 3m by 4m, for

the marae’s meeting house. None of the women have weaved a whariki before but most have been taught to make flax Kit, in which the same basic principles of weaving are used. About six women went to the institute in Rotorua two months ago where they learned Maori crafts other than whariki weaving. The head tutor, Mrs Donna Whaiariki, said she was very pleased with the

progress the women were making. “For most, it is their first time but they are doing well, although it helps when you know how to weave a kit,” she said. However, the women still had a “very long" way to go, Mrs Whaiariki said. An expert weaver might take about two weeks to complete one whariki and a learner could take up to six weeks, she said.

Sponsored by the marae’s trust board, Mrs Whaiariki and the head tutor at the institute at Rotorua, Mrs Emily Schuster, will return to Christchurch in February to help start the weaving for the meeting house. However, flax preparations will probably start next month as the process of cutting, boiling, drying, and dying the flax can take some weeks, depending on the weather.